Some Admob tips to be noted

In this tutorial, let us have a short walkthrough of a series of tips which i have noted while implementing google admob in my android applications

tip 1 : Hassle free switching between live and testing environment

You might know that use of production credentials(app id, ad unit id) are not recommended for testing purposes. In this case we would be using using test credentials for testing purposes and then when the apps needs to go live, we switch the data to production credentials. In order to avoid this hassle, there is an efficient configuration which will automatically give test ads in emulators whereas it will serve live ads when it runs on a real device. For this configuration add the following snippet to your ad request

By specifying emulators as a test device, it will always serve test ads in them even if you use live app id/ad unit id.

tip 2 : How to overcome "Extremely low CPC" ?

There are a lot of reasons for low CPC. One reason for this is low CTR(click through rate), which means that you are having a lot of ad impressions (number of times the ads have been shown to users), but having very low clicks which is negligible compared to your massive ad impressions. This can be rectified by carefully placing your ads in areas where user attention is possibly more. You could also block unwanted ads from your admob dashboard like shown below

you could also rectify low CPC problem by specifying eCPM floor value in your admob dashboard which will serve ads only above the specified eCPM value. This will reduce the ad fill rate. But there can be chances of increasing your revenue if you set the eCPM floor values properly according to your region. In order to specify an eCPM floor value,

go to the admob dashboard

go to Apps in left sidebar and select an app

slelect Ad Units option from left sidebar

Now select an ad unit from the list that appears

Clicking on it you can see the ad details, now click advanced settings

Now you can see an option to set eCPM floor value as shown below

Now you may set a minimum eCPM floor so that ads with greater eCPM will only be shown

Note: Setting a high eCPM floor may cause a decrease in overall fill rate, so choose a value after doing proper research

Never ever try to cheat Google Algorithms by generating fake clicks by making use of VPN or any other such tools. Following this can almost save you from getting banned. The reason that you should not try cheating is that google algorithms are so powerful that it can detect any possible abnormal behaviours. So never even think of getting past the google algorithm after cheating. Google may be even using deep learning algorithms to analyse user patterns and detect the abnormalities. Even though it may leave you unpunished once or twice, but once it analyses a continued pattern of abnormal behaviour from your end, you are sure to get banned from using the adsense/admob account.

You might have found a lot of online sources claiming to have earned hundreds and thousands from admob by using fake clicks. Now if you watch your admob earnings closely, you can see that even if you see a certain number of clicks at a particular instance, then leave and then come back the same day again, you might see a lesser number of clicks than before. This is because google algorithms have invalidated some clicks which it detected as invalid. The same case can be applied to the above fake click case where the fake clicks will only stay for a certain amount of time. Before google pays you it will definitely be validating whether the clicks are genuine or not.

So stay away from cheating, and stay unbanned!

tip 4 : The right placing of ads

Placing of ads is another important aspect in efficient ad monetisation process. It is always necessary to place ads at location where user attention is more likely to happen. It is equally important not to place ads in locations where accidental clicks are likely to happen. For example, placing an ad as an overlay of a clickable button. This behaviour can even lead to account deactivation.

tip 5 : The CTR balancing problem!

Starting with admob monetisation, we all might have thought that efficient admob monetisation process is all about getting clicks - more and more of them! But later down the road we come across another huge barrier - balancing the CTR(Click Through Rate). Click Through rate is actually the percentage of ads clicked out of the total ads served. Hence a higher CTR would mean that the users are clicking a huge amount of ads that you are serving. From my own experiences and a few other developers you should always try to limit your CTR for banners to 1 %. For interstitial ads try limiting to around 5%. Again, these values are not from any official sources and just from some developer experiences. You may check this post to get some idea

tip 6 : Does the time of the year matter in better admob revenue?

Based on various developer experiences, such trends have been noticed. According to this, the admob revenue is supposed to be low in the first quarter of the year compared to the end of year. December is supposed to be one of the most profitable months. There are also reported cases where revenue for January had been almost half compared to that of December. You may check for further details here. Hence effectively timing the release at proper time can help you boost your revenue as well.

tip 7 :CTR vs Impressions which should be more ?

tip 8 : Does CPC varies across different countries ?

Yes the CPC will vary across different countries. CPC value will be greater for countries like USA, Russia, European Countries etc and will be comparatively lower for countries like India, China, Africa etc. The reason for low CPC values in these regions are because the customers from these regions are less likely to spend money online as compared with customers in countries like USA,Russia and European Countries. So the advertisers are willing to spend comparatively less money in those regions. So while building an app, choosing the right target audience(based on country) can help in building higher revenue.